Updating post from Reddit.
When I used to rent I swear I hardly ever saw the landlord, but I'd like to be more present without being invasive to tenants, so how many times roughly do you actually do an inspection per year?
Never. It's their home and they have my number if there's any issues. I make sure there's a good relationship and they see me as approachable. If I need to do anything on the property I let them know the same way. No issues.
This exactly.
As a tenant with excellent track record, I find it extremely invasive that someone comes to my house every 6 months to see if I live correctly, given I always tell the landlord when there is something off.
It’s not checking you’re ’living correctly’ though; or it shouldn’t be. As a landlord you want peace of mind that your valuable asset isn’t getting damaged because a tenant hasn’t noticed that damp patch in the spare room, or the crack in the kitchen, whatever.
Yep I agree. Its there house for the tenancy, as long as they are paying the rent and keep in contact I’ve no reason to do an inspection. It’s not like the bank who you have a mortgage with asks to inspect your house every few months. Let people be adults.
If you have a BTL mortgage some lenders actually require that you do X inspections per year as a condition for the mortgage… just saying. For some landlords it may not be a matter of trusting their tenants or not, but a matter of making sure they comply with the conditions of their mortgage. I’ve come across similar requirements from some councils and some home insurance companies…
I have them every quarter!
Depends what their level of off is... In my experience not everyone has the same level or cleanliness or respect of a property. I have a maintenance guy that checks every month all is in order.
But like, I payd 5 weeks of rent and I have a contract saying that if I bulldoze the house, I pay for it. The extra enforcement is the invasive thing.
I lived in 5 countries, rented everywhere. Only recently in the UK this idea of needing to inspect the property happened.
You’re literally in their house but okay
the building is theirs, but its still my home. Its probably not even theirs, but a banks, until they pay the mortgage.
*Until you pay the mortgage for them
I’m a renter who’s moved every year for 7 years but I often have one inspection after 3 months and then it’s either been 6 months or when they’ve served the S21.
The one time I had inspections every 3 months was when I was a student living with 7 other lads who didn’t clean much.
Depends if I end up there for other reasons.. But typically every six months I like to touch base.
Same here, plus it depends how long the tenant’s been there and how much I have come to trust them really.
Check your insurance policy. They usually state when inspections have to be done
Exactly this so many landlords do not understand it's part of their insurance policy.
In 25 years as a landlord, using countless different insurers, I have not once had a policy which compels me to do inspections.
I’ll repeat my previous post, shall I?
Why not. It will give you something to do.
If you are with a direct line policy they have it in their small print. Others probably do it too now it doesn't stop you taking out policy but could become problematic in making a claim if you missed out points from the policy.
Our current policy generally just requires "regular" inspections (without saying how often is regular). However, it also contains a specific requirement for inspections at least every three months if we want protection against the consequences of the cultivation of illegal drugs. We looked around, and other policies had similar inspection requirements in respect of protection against damage caused by cannabis factories.
On paper it says once a year. But i trust my tenants enough that this is not necessary.
I don't do them myself (I use a managing agent), but they organise one every 6 months and send me the report.
Basically never, though I’ve never had anyone live there for more than 2 years so I probably would after that.
I’d rather they kept themselves to themselves to be honest, so I do the same- they know where I am if they have any issues
My tenant has been with me for a number of years, first year i did 2 inspections since then its 1 a year.
I've rented for about 5 years and in all my rents I have never seen a landlord or a letting agent come for inspection apart from when I first arrived and when I left.
I think estate agents just put that on there to justify hiking the price up as part of management fees to the landlords.
As long as you are paying in full and on time without neighbours/tenants complaining or police being involved chances are you will never see anyone honor this system in my experience.
With student properties we do them once per term, so thrice a year
Professionals - start at every quarter then drop down to twice a year after a year, if everything is ok.
I use a letting agent, and we agreed every 6 months. Though just had a house handed back and they clearly hadn’t been doing it every 6 months :(
My letting agent does it every 6 months
I did 3 months and 6 months after move in to catch any snagging issues, then every 6 months mostly to check HVAC filters etc. but I wasn’t prescriptive on exact timings because it was mostly about keeping the building in good order, not checking up on the tenant.
Every 6 months.
Most councils have a condition for licence that you do inspections every 6 months as a minimum.
An inspection should be brief - check externally building is in good repair and same internally. As well as checking alarms working and boiler pressure is good.
Listen to any feedback from tenants.
You’re both there to judge how tenants are living but equally it shouldn’t be a complete mess and leading to potential issues such as water damage/pest infestation
I've rented for years and years and never had a single inspection. Landlords if you think some agency is inspecting on your behalf... They may not be.
Some local authorities/councils require that you inspect the property X times per year if you’re in an area for which you need a licence. Then, if you have a mortgage on the property the lender might also require a certain number of inspections (this is my situation, for instance, so even if I wanted to do less frequent inspections I couldn’t get away with it). I would see first if any of those things apply just in case. Other than that, it’d be up to you to decide. I’d say that an inspection 3-4 months into the tenancy would be good, and then you can decide whether to do a yearly one, for instance. Unless you want to keep an eye on things, I wouldn’t worry about using inspections to be present for the tenants, as I think it’s more important to make it clear that if anything is needed they can contact you and you’ll respond promptly.
As a tenant I've never had one in any house I've rented ever.
My agent does it every 6 weeks because he (LL) wants to sell it so he's just making sure I'm looking after it
I couldn't be bothered to fight it because I'm a good tenant, always paid on time / early and look after the place but he's paranoid if anything because 6 weeks is silly. I just tell them to come in when im at work . He'll sell soon probably so I'll be told to leave before labours reforms
dont call it an 'inspection'.. makes tennants feel like they rent an army barracks...
call it a 'welfare check'
Depends on the tenancy. New tenants. Inspection montly. Everything good. It moves to 3 months etc
Monthly is insane
It's my property, ensuring the new tenants will A) be looking after it B) are aware that they should be.
It's in the contract, it's been discussed, and they are fine with it.
First mainly picked up the velux was left wide open in the middle of a storm. Patio chairs Ditto. Second inspection everything was good. Tenants said they'd forgotten about the patio chairs, and didn't realise about the velux timer.
If no first inspection after a month then velux could have been damaged, rain come in etc. patio chairs could have been broken, or damaged something.
This way tenants don't have issues nor damage, neither do I. They were happy to know, as was I.